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"I love the sense of satisfaction that I get when I’ve done a swimming workout or race, and know that I gave my whole being and heart to God in every moment of the swim. It’s the best worship I can offer him."

Penny Heyns

Re-envisioning the Olympic Games

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Paul’s use of athletic imagery in Philippians, Bradley Arnold, Theology, Vol 115 No 4, July/August 2012

The article explores how Paul uses athletic imagery to re-envision the Christian life in his letter to the Philippians. It is very much a technical exegesis of the passage.

The author argues that there was nothing new in Paul using athletic metaphors as other contemporary writers like Epictetus did the same.

A quotation from Lucian on ancient athletics gives a helpful context for one of Paul’s images: “Immediately the hysplex has fallen the good runner thinks only of what is in front of him and, stretching (apoteinas) his mind (dianoian) toward the terma and putting his hope of victory in his feet, does not plot against the fellow next to him or even consider his competitors”.

As the text from Lucian illustrated, the good runner thinks only of what is in front of him and forgets what is behind.

The author suggests that “Paul draws on the familiar imagery of athletics, which was associated with Olympic Games, to re-envision the Christian life, and presents Christian existence as a life of progress toward a particular goal. Christ is viewed as the goal of life and therefore the one who maps out a course for how believers are to live”.

And again: “The athletic imagery presents the Christian life as a contest, where believers are engaged in a struggle to align themselves with the pattern marked out by Christ”.

Finally I am endebted to the author for pointing out that a small statuette of a runner was found in Olympia inspired with the words. ‘I belong to Zeus’ on it. So Kaka was not the first!



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